A gay teacher was forced to hide her face in a radio competition for fear of losing her job at a Catholic school.

Caoimhe Hickey and her partner known as 'Pixel', entered the Newstalk contest, #OpenToAll, to win a dream wedding.

But the couple pixalated the teacher's face in the video, in which they sang Blue Brothers' Everybody Needs Somebody to Love, submitted as part of the competition.

Caoimhe explained on Twitter that her partner didn't show her face in the video because she's a teacher in a Catholic school and was worried about losing her job.

Under Section 37 of Irish employment law, religious schools are still exempt from certain parts of equality law due to their ethos and teachings.

Despite having to cover one of their faces, the couple won Newstalk's competition and are now planning their dream wedding.

They are hoping to get married at the Little White Chapel in Las Vegas before flying on to San Francisco for their honeymoon.

Caoimhe said the couple were "totally gobsmacked" by the response to their entry.

But the video has triggered a debate about the need to change Irish employment law to protect gay teachers.

‘Pixel’, told the Irish Times that there was no political agenda behind the move and she is shocked at the social media storm it has caused.

She said: “We did the pixelation as a precaution more than anything. I didn’t expect people to feel so passionately about it."

Junior Justice Minister Aodhán Ó Ríordáin told the Irish Times that: “people should be horrified to live in a country where people think they have to pixelate their faces in a competition to protect their jobs."